Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the distribution of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) cases in patients with human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) infection in the Gambia; to document the prevalence of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection in various population groups in the Gambia.
STUDY DESIGN/METHODS: A retrospective analysis of KS cases in hospital records at the Medical Research Council (MRC) hospital was performed, along with a cross-sectional survey of HHV-8 prevalence in hospital-based and community-based study population with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serologic assays.
RESULTS: After adjusting for gender and CD% at the first visit, HIV-1-positive patients were 12.4 times more likely to have KS than were HIV-2-positive patients. The prevalence of antibodies to HHV-8 and the HHV-8 genome was high in both HIV-1-positive and HIV-2-positive patients without KS. The prevalence of antibodies was also high in pregnant women who were HIV-1-positive, HIV-2-positive, or HIV-negative (73%, 83%, and 79%, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: HHV-8 infection is widespread in the Gambia. In addition to immunosuppression and HHV-8 infection, other cofactors specifically related to HIV-1 rather than HIV-2 appear to be involved in the development of KS.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 193-9 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of human virology |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 3 |
Publication status | Published - 09 Apr 1999 |
Keywords
- AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/epidemiology
- Adolescent
- Adult
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
- Female
- Gambia/epidemiology
- HIV-1
- HIV-2
- Herpesvirus 8, Human
- Humans
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Pregnancy
- Prevalence
- Retrospective Studies
- Risk Factors
- Sarcoma, Kaposi/epidemiology